Guess what? Twitter and Facebook don’t drive sales (much)

A report shows that social media such as Facebook and Twitter don’t do all that much when it comes to driving ecommerce sales. According to reseach by Sucharita Mulpuru at Forrester, fewer than 1% of online sales could be tracked back to a social media post.

Her report says: “Social tactics are not meaningful sales drivers. While the hype around social networks as a driver of influence in eCommerce continues to capture the attention of online executives, the truth is that social continues to struggle and registers as a barely negligible source of sales for either new or repeat buyers. In fact, fewer than 1% of transactions for both new and repeat
shoppers could be traced back to trackable social links.”

Paying for traffic via search engines such as Google does show results and email marketing draws returning customers. Check out the story and graphic (below) for more information.

Although sales from social media hardly compare to marketplaces like eBay, I think more people are expecting brands to be on Facebook or Twitter. Simply for them to check out feedback or reach out for customer support.

A handful of our community members are also finding some success on social media, but again this doesn’t mean they are leaving eBay for FB. It’s a good alternate venue to buff sales without the fees 🙂

dbl says

6:34 am on 20/11/2012

Well I agree but isn’t social media about engaging with your customers? You know like the old fashioned ‘talking to people’ perhaps, and I’ve said this many times, people don’t want to be sold to on these channels.. Perhaps it s like those annoying sales staff that make you want to leave the store.

Kinda like sales without the heavy sell. Maybe they got it wrong. People do business with people and like to make their own minds up rather than being herded like cattle.